Permaculture Now! Bats: Useful Permaculture Animals Bats: Useful Permaculture Animals In North American culture, bats are portrayed as scary creatures. Fortunately for me, I learned at a very young age that bats eat mosquitoes; and since learning this, I have always viewed bats as friends. Most of my permaculture designs call for bat houses, but this element of the design is usually ignored by those implementing the design or is met with strange looks when I suggest the idea. I hope this piece will explain my desire to incorporate bats into designs. Insect Control About 70% of the more than 1,000 species of bats in the world are insectivorous.1 They assist us in controlling biting insects, but their use in insect control is much broader than this. Recent research from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama shows that bats are vital in controlling plant-eating insects. Forest Expansion and Maintenance In the tropics of the Americas, bats can assist in reafforestation. The fruit bats of India tend to maintain forests. Footnotes
Permaculture Magazine - Inspiration for Sustainable Living | Permaculture Magazine Austin Permaculture Guild Permaculture With its system of applied education, research and citizen- led design permaculture has grown a popular web of global networks and developed into a global social movement[citation needed]. The term permaculture was developed and coined by David Holmgren, then a graduate student at the Tasmanian College of Advanced Education's Department of Environmental Design, and Bill Mollison, senior lecturer in Environmental Psychology at University of Tasmania, in 1978. [1] The word permaculture originally referred to "permanent agriculture",[3] but was expanded to stand also for "permanent culture", as it was understood that social aspects were integral to a truly sustainable system as inspired by Masanobu Fukuoka’s natural farming philosophy. It has many branches that include, but are not limited to, ecological design, ecological engineering, regenerative design, environmental design, and construction. History[edit] Several individuals revolutionized the branch of permaculture. In Australian P.A.
Open Source Permaculture – help to build the most comprehensive free resource for Permaculture education Talk, Uncategorized — By Irena Efremovska on 04/09/2012 17:37 Sophia Novack, the force behind Permaculture Media Blog and Permaculture Directory ‘What does your backyard look like right now?’ – asks Sophia Novack, a documentary film student passionate about creating a more sustainable world. It has the potential to become a thriving edible garden, but only if you’ve got the right resources. That’s what the Open Source Permaculture Project is all about. With Open Source Permaculture, you could have just the support you need to make that garden a reality. Permaculture is a school of design rooted in ecological ethics and principles. Photo by Southernpixel AlbyOpen Source Permaculture intends to become the most comprehensive multimedia resource of free, quality materials for Permaculture education. It would offer people all over the world the ability to easily learn sustainability skills on their own. Who doesn’t want open source education on sustainable design? PS.
Permaculture Principles - thinking tools for an era of change More Parklets Popping Up Around San Francisco Payton Chung's flickr page/viaDeepistan National Parklet When I last wrote about parklets in July of 2011, there were fourteen parklets in San Francisco. The city now claims 31 parklets and counting, with 39 in various stages of review. How it Began The idea for parklets sprouted in 2005 out of PARKing Day, the annual fall day when residents reclaim a parking space for the day, by rolling out Astroturf, chairs, tables and plants to create a temporary park. The Pluses of Parklets A parklet’s diminutive size allows it to be built much more quickly, cheaply and with less red tape than a traditional park while still providing some public outdoor space. Research in Support of Parklets San Francisco’s Great Streets Project conducted a before and after study of the Mojo Parklet and found that after the parklet was built several activities increased. Concerns about loss of parking spots Parklets reduce the already limited number of parking spots in the neighborhood. Public Use Union Square
Permaculture: the ethics of gardening « Pennsylvania Echoes A couple weeks ago I took a class on soil, and I learned quite a lot. One definition of soil, pertaining to growing and gardening, is a “The unconsolidated mineral or organic material on the immediate surface of the Earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of land plants”. Did you know that plant roots “decide” the type and levels of microbial life in their symbiotic soil relationships? The form of gardening that I am becoming more interested in is called Permaculture Design. Permaculture is in fact more than gardening. The name permaculture is derived from “Permanent Culture” and “Permanent Agriculture” The definition as definition as stated put by Bill Mollison: “Permaculture is a system of assembling conceptual, material and strategic components in a pattern which in a pattern which functions to benefit Life in all forms. - “Intro To Permaculture” , B. Ethics in Action Permandala Food for thought Right now I am just interested in gardening and being creative. Food for Fact
Larry Korn - Permaculture and Natural Farming Educator, Consultant, Editor and Author